Nancy Zhou, violin

Nancy Zhou

Nancy Zhou, born in 1993, is a native of San Antonio, TX and a graduate of Harvard University. Influenced in music by her father and teacher, Long Zhou, Nancy gave her first recital at the age of 5 in her hometown and made her orchestral debut at 9. Alongside studies with her father and individual support from Anne-Sophie Mutter, she has additionally studied with Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory and with David Nadien. Currently, she is artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapelle in Belgium, receiving guidance from Augustin Dumay.Nancy is the recipient of top prizes, including her most recent accomplishments this year— the first prizes at the International Violin Competition Harbin and at the Shanghai Isaac Stern Competition. Additionally, she has received the first prize at the 2009 Johansen International Violin Competition, the Rastor Special Prize Award for Kaija Saariaho’s Tocar at the 2010 Sibelius International Violin Competition, and the title of laureate at the 2012 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition. As a chamber musician and soloist, Nancy Zhou gave her professional debut with the San Antonio Symphony in 2009, performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Since then, she has gone on to perform with orchestras across the globe, including the China National Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Munich Symphony, among others. Nancy has collaborated with such conductors as Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu, Yongyan Hu, Ken-David Masur, Christopher Seaman, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, and Jean-Jacques Kantarow. A frequent participant in international music festivals, Nancy has performed at the Festpiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Ravinia Festival, Shanghai’s Changshan Festival, and the Verbier Festival. In the more recent years, Nancy visited Spain as guest artist at the inaugural 2018 Festival Groba en Ruta; Taiwan as part of a chamber concert; and the US as faculty member of the 2017 Encore Chamber Music Festival Since 2008, Nancy Zhou has been a recipient of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. In addition to individual support, Anne-Sophie Mutter has invited Nancy to collaborate with her on concert tours in Europe, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. November 2014 marked Nancy’s debut with Ms. Mutter at Carnegie Hall, where she performed Bach’s Double Violin Concerto. In the next seasons, Nancy will present recitals in the US and perform with the Shenzhen Symphony, Shanghai Symphony in collaboration with Jaap van Zweden, and engage in a tour in North and South America with the China Philharmonic under conductor Long Yu.

Currently, Nancy plays on a Guarneri, del Gesù, on loan by a anonymous donor of the Music Chapel.

Since september 2018, Nancy Zhou is artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the guidance of Augustin Dumay.